News Release

NIU student newspaper inducts fiveinto Northern Star Hall of Fame

DeKalb — Membership in the Northern Star Hall of Fame grew to 58 last week with the induction of five new alums, including two from the Northern Illinois University faculty.

Denise Schoenbachler, dean of the NIU College of Business, is considered a friend of the campus newspaper for conducting and delivering three market research studies in the last decade. Lois Self, retired chair of the NIU Department of Communication, is another friend who led the university’s journalism faculty and served as executive secretary for the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association.

Schoenbachler and Self are among a class that includes a former White House correspondent, a former White House adviser and, perhaps, a thorn in the current White House’s side: the author of one of the nation’s most influential – and left-wing – political blogs.

The induction ceremony was held Saturday, March 3, at a downtown DeKalb restaurant.

“The Star has launched so many great careers and so many great friendships,” Northern Star adviser Jim Killam said. “One of the best things about this event is that our current students get to see that, close-up. Someday they’ll be the ones telling stories about how this place helped shape their lives and careers.”

The Northern Star Hall of Fame honors former students, advisers and friends of the Northern Star who significantly affected the Northern Star, journalism or related fields, or who have otherwise received acclaim based in part on experience gained at the Northern Star.

Created in 2000, the Hall of Fame serves as a means to keep alumni actively involved in support of the Northern Star and to encourage Northern Star students toward excellence in their chosen career paths.

Carol Jouzaitis, a 1975 alum who served as a national correspondent and White House correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. Jouzaitis, who began her career at the Geneva Chronicle and the now-defunct Suburban Tribune, eventually covered Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign and much of his presidency, traveling frequently on Air Force One. She later wrote for USA Today and now is senior vice president and director of public relations at Slack Barshinger in Chicago.

Bruce Ladd, class of 1958, who edited newspapers in the suburbs and played key roles in the passage of the Illinois Open Meetings Act and the drafting of the federal Freedom of Information Act. Ladd was press secretary for Chuck Percy’s 1964 gubernatorial campaign, served on then-U.S. Rep. Donald Rumsfeld’s staff and later advised President Nixon’s communications director. The author of three books later was vice president for legislative affairs at Motorola and a legislative analyst for Winston & Strawn in Chicago. Retired since 1998, he and his wife now live in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Markos Moulitsas, who graduated in 1996 and later earned a law degree from Boston University. Moulitsas is the founder and editor of the Daily Kos, a potent blend of news and commentary from a largely liberal perspective. An average of 500,000 readers visit the site each day to read postings by Moulitsas as well as dozens of other bloggers and politicians, including Sens. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. A resident of San Francisco, Moulitsas also is the co-author of “Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics.”

Denise Schoenbachler, friend of the Star who became dean of the NIU College of Business in 2006. Schoenbachler, former chair of the Department of Marketing, contracted with the Star to conduct and deliver market research in 1996, 2000 and 2005. She obtained scientific results using NIU’s Public Opinion Laboratory to conduct telephone surveys of hundreds of students and faculty members. She then met with the Star’s advertising sales staff to discuss the results and subsequent sales strategies. Schoenbachler heads a faculty that, as a whole, has been heavily involved in training and supporting the Northern Star’s advertising sales staff.

Lois Self, another friend of the Star who retired as chair of the NIU Department of Communication last year. When Self took the reins shortly after a contentious merger of her department and the Department of Journalism, her actions quelled fear and outrage that journalism at NIU would vanish. She met with worried leaders of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association and soon became a NINA leader herself. Self “listened, asked questions, promised that things would be better and then tirelessly worked to make sure they were,” one newspaper editor said.

Matt Bute, automotive manager for the Chicago Tribune’s print and online editions as well as cars.com., received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award. Bute graduated in 1999 and also was a co-recipient of the BridgeBuilder Award in 2004.